This invention pertains to a pluggable male terminator for use with a female ribbon cable connector.
In the past a termination network plugged onto relatively low cost male contacts that were soldered directly onto a printed circuit board. If the user wanted to travel some distance with the signals, he had to use a cable that had a similar number of conductors as found in the transmission lines. The conductor count can range from as few as 40 wires to as many as 96 wires.
Because of the time involved in soldering and aligning large numbers of wires to a single connector, various mass wire termination techniques have been employed. One of these techniques is called insulation displacement contact or IDC. With this IDC technique, a large number of wires are formed into a flat group with regular spacing from conductor to conductor. This ribbon of wires can have a connector installed onto it in one step, with the result that a single contact will be made from each wire in the ribbon. Ideally, the connection of the wire to a contact is made by a knife-like area in the contact that slices through the insulation on the wire and touches the conductor inside, thus making the circuit.
In order to stamp the knife-like edge into the contact it is necessary to start with a suitably thin material (typically 0.012 inches thick). While this material thickness makes a good knife, it does not make a good connector. The other end of the knife must make a good connection so that the signal will be properly transferred. Male contacts are typically 0.025 inch or more thick for bend resistance. Female contacts can be much thinner because they form around the inserted male contact. Low cost IDC connectors are typically female. Additionally, because of the material thickness, the male contacts that arc available are only suitable for soldering directly into the holes in a printed circuit board. IDC connectors that are constructed into male contacts must undergo elaborate forming techniques to bring the thickness to a usable level. The attached female contact is almost three times more costly than the attached male connector. Thus, a presently preferred termination network has female contacts that are plugged by male tails.
If the user wants to install this termination network onto a cable, two options are available. First, use an expensive male IDC connector to plug the standard termination network. Second, connect the terminator directly to the cable using an IDC technique. To use the IDC technique, a considerable amount of pressure is required to knife through the insulation on the wires. Connectors constructed of plastic and metal can withstand the typical IDC seating pressures of 500 pounds or more. However, terminators that are constructed of plastic, metal, a dozen or more resistors, capacitors and a printed circuit board cannot withstand this pressure and can be easily damaged if directly connected to a ribbon cable.
An object of this invention is to provide a pluggable male terminator that can be easily connected to a low cost female connector that is joined to a ribbon cable by an IDC connection.
Another object of this invention is to provide a pluggable male terminator that comprises low cost DIN style contacts for use with a female ribbon female connector.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a pluggable male connector comprised of a shroud, a PC board with pins extending from opposed surfaces and a cover, the shroud, cover, and pins on the PC board having been readily snapped together for assembly.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be made more apparent hereinafter.